On Staging homes..... As any realtor I'd assume knows, there are multitudes of reasons for selling a house. Lots are positive, lots are negative, and probably most are "change scary", or being afraid of the unknown. As professional stagers, we get first hand experience with what a home attaches us to, like glue, and why it's hard to let go. It's even more apparent that compassion is needed, and professionalism is being compassionate.
One of our partnered real estate brokers introduced us to their clients, who'd been married many years. She was diagnosed with beginning alzheimer's. They were forced to move because they needed to be closer to their siblings, so their dream house was going on the market. Their concerns were medication, what if's, and lots of unknowns. These are wonderful people, and I felt as I listened I was being evaluated for "compassion", during the course of the conversation to qualify for the job. I felt honored, and inspired to go the extra mile, and the million dollar home sold in less than 2 months.
Another couple's home we staged had a similiar story, only his wife's condition is one involving brain cancer, with no cure yet.She has little time left, and they are the greatest people that I've met in a long time.
We've staged estates, helping the kids file through Mom or Dad's things, with tears, or memories. At first I didn't have words for them, I only got teary, and that doesn't help. Being too cheerful feels foreign to me when I'm sad, so that didn't work either. Having a Mom, and a Dad in their late 80's myself, and not too well, I knew I had to figure out how to deal with my compassion and others.
Working with Agents and Brokers, and recognizing that I and they have to have a "Game On", I had a unique experience the other day. With 4 cancer's in our family, and one death this year, I was at a network group, working on the "game on", knowing full well that the game really was off. The topic of baby boomers came up, and caregivers, and if anyone was. Without raising my eyes and more inside me than present, I said a definite yup.
Ever been in a group and not really been there? I was jolted awake when someone I can't even remember touched my shoulder, and said "You're not Alone". A stranger, 3 words, and a split second in time lifted me up, so any of you Caregivers out there struggling with what seems to be insurmountable issues, aging or otherwise, from me to you, "you're not alone".
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